The cells of a mobile network are typically organized into tracking areas (TAs). The mobile network uses TAs to determine an approximate location of a user equipment (UE) that is not in direct communication with the mobile network, e.g., when the UE is in an idle state.
There are at least two types of control signals used in conjunction with TAs in a mobile network. One such control signal is a tracking area update (TAU) signal; when a UE is turned on or enters a cell associated with a new TA, it sends a TAU signal to the mobile network. The TAU signal indicates to the mobile network that the sending UE is in one of the cells of a given TA. A second control signal, a paging signal, may be sent by the mobile network to initiate communication with the UE, for example, when facilitating an incoming call session. The paging signal is used to page the UE in each of the cells of the TA indicated by a most recently received TAU signal.